This invention relates to equipment used to remove foreign matter from conveyor belts. Conveyor scrapers are used to remove debris in a controlled manner, to prevent it from creating unsafe conditions by accumulating on the belt. Frequently, such equipment must be used in hostile environments which create substantial maintenance problems. These problems include excessive wear on scraper blades, corrosion of blade mounting mechanisms, and the need for fast changeover to limit downtime. These difficulties are often exacerbated by a limited amount of space in which to perform maintenance operations. Also, the wear and corrosion problems operate in tandem to compound maintenance headaches by creating a need for frequent blade replacement but at the same time making it difficult to effect such replacement because mounting bolts and clamps have become corroded. These difficulties are particularly prevalent in coal mines and other mining operations, but may also be encountered in industrial applications.
Another difficulty with conveyor scraping equipment is that the scraper can damage the conveyor belt itself. This causes the shutdown of the entire material handling system while the belt is either repaired or replaced. Replacement of a conveyor belt is highly undesirable from an economic standpoint. It is much less expensive to be sure that the scraper assembly sustains the wear than it is to replace the conveyor belt.
Another disadvantage of some scraper designs is that they are limited to a single position in the conveyor line. This means space must be provided for the scraper either underneath the belt or at one particular pulley or another. This causes a lack of flexibility in the application of the scraper to the entire conveyor system.